Community Diagnostic Centre is moving closer to completion in Southend
A new health centre which will improve the lives of people in Southend and wider mid and south Essex, welcomed local elected representatives today for a first look at the site.
Southend Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC), which is due to open its doors to patients early next year, will be in the old Argos unit within the Victoria Shopping Centre.
Once fully open, the centre is expected to deliver more than 30,000 extra diagnostic appointments a year, including x-rays and heart and lung tests. This will help to cut hospital waiting times and get local people the tests they need sooner.
Visitors including Bayo Alaba, MP for Southend East and Rochford, David Burton-Sampson, MP for Southend West and Leigh, and Councillor Maxine Sadza, Cabinet Member for Social Care and Healthier Communities, were shown around the new facility and saw firsthand how the centre is being shaped to meet the needs of the community.
James Currell, Acting Divisional Director, Clinical and Support Services Division at the Trust said: “It’s incredible to see the building taking shape and knowing what a difference this will make to the community in just a few short months.
“Southend is the second of four CDCs opening across mid and south Essex, which are all about making access to diagnostic tests more convenient; and supporting patients to get the right care quickly, in a place, and at a time that’s convenient for them. We’re already seeing the difference this is making at our centre in Thurrock, and we look forward to Southend doing the same once it opens in the new year.”
Michael Catling, Chief Operating Officer at THH, added: “We are proud to be working alongside the NHS to bring rapid, high quality diagnostic services into the heart of Southend. By providing locally accessible scans and tests under NHS referral, the centre will help reduce hospital backlogs, speed up care for patients and create training and job opportunities for the community.”
Some services are already underway, with ultrasound and echocardiogram appointments currently being delivered from the nearby Pathology First test centre.
The Southend CDC is part of a national initiative to expand diagnostic capacity and bring services closer to home. Thurrock CDC opened in September with two other centres currently in development in Braintree and Pitsea.